"Globally, growth is one of the biggest challenges for CEOs. This includes a search for new markets, new business models, and new ways to deploy technology. It's good to see that CEOs in our region are feeling more confident than their global counterparts (42% vs 30%) about revenue growth in 2026. They’ve shown resilience amid challenges like geopolitical instability, cyber threats, and tariffs. These pressures push businesses to focus on immediate needs, balancing urgent priorities with longer-term investments, including technology. Despite this ‘business as unusual’ environment, many are entering new sectors and creating new income sources. AI adoption in CEE is still early, with limited impact on revenue or cost savings. At PwC, we’re embracing this tech journey ourselves as “AI client zero” and we’ve put AI to work across our network. We’re empowering and upskilling our people with GenAI tools to gain value from technology."
Adam Krasoń, CEO, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
Report highlights
"My first thought from this year’s survey: the need for reinvention remains urgent. Most CEOs in our region spend over half of their time on short-term activities. There’s a clear requirement for bold, long-term vision. This means accelerating digital transformation, strengthening AI capabilities, and embedding resilience into business models. This is what turns cautious optimism today into lasting growth tomorrow."
Agnieszka Gajewska, Partner, CEE Clients & Markets Leader and Global Government & Public Services Leader
Short-term confidence, long-term questions
Confidence among CEOs in CEE is rising, bucking the global trend of declining short-term optimism. 42% are very or extremely confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months—well above the global average of 30%.
Looking at the three-year perspective for their organisations, optimism among CEOs in CEE dips slightly to 39%. Yet, on the global stage, the outlook changes significantly. Confidence among global CEOs jumps from 30% to 49%, with an increasingly positive outlook over the next three years.
This contrast suggests that while CEOs in CEE are confident in the short term, they’re more reserved about longer-term prospects. CEOs in CEE have been through a lot—war, inflation, and supply chain shocks—and in many respects have come out stronger. So, in the face of another year of uncertainty, they’re confident in their organisation’s ability to adapt and survive in the near term.
One driver of tempered optimism is the stabilisation in inflation rates in 2024-25 in CEE. In Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, inflation has dropped from peaks of 13–18% in 2022–23 to between 2.4% and 4.4% by late 2025.
Another stimulus for short-term optimism within EU countries of CEE is that the availability of EU funds in 2026 is generally better than it will be in subsequent years. Notably, the high concentration of spending from the temporary Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) programme ends this year.
So, for CEE CEOs, their immediate advantage becomes a long-term question mark—not because confidence is falling, but because their peers elsewhere are leaning further forward.
So what’s holding them back? 41% worry about keeping pace with technology and AI, and 36% about ensuring their company’s medium to long-term viability. This echoes last year’s survey, where 52% of CEOs in our region believed their business wouldn’t be economically viable in a decade if it stayed on its current path.
The reinvention imperative hasn’t gone anywhere, and proper responses require long-term strategies. This poses challenges for CEOs in CEE. They tend to focus on short-term priorities, limiting growth opportunities. 57% of their time is spent on activities with time horizons of less than a year, 10% more than their global peers, and only 11% on initiatives five years out or beyond.
Facing the headwinds and adapting to new realities
Over the past few years, CEOs in CEE have once again been compelled to lead through disruption. Geopolitical conflict and macroeconomic volatility continue to dominate CEE’s risk landscape. And the pressure isn’t letting up.
Inflation was CEOs’ top threat in 2024 in CEE, but by the time of our surveys in 2025–26, geopolitical tensions had taken centre stage. The share of CEOs in CEE feeling highly exposed to geopolitics rose from 34% to 39%, and macroeconomic threat also increased (37%, up from 32%). By contrast, talent-related risks have eased (high exposure down to 20% from 29%), either as priorities shifted or pressure reduced, while cyber threats remain steady at 23%.
And now tariffs have entered the picture. 15% of CEOs in CEE believe their organisations will be highly or extremely exposed to tariffs in the next year. Additionally, 29% of CEOs both in our region and globally expect tariffs to negatively impact net profit margins.
To respond to potential geopolitical risk over the next three years, some CEOs in CEE plan to reduce reliance on untrusted tech providers (18% to a large or very large extent), reconfigure supply chains to more secure countries (17%), expect to exit risky markets (15%) or restructure tax obligations (8%). But there’s one area where every second CEO in CEE is stepping up—cybersecurity. 48% say they’ll improve enterprise-wide defences.
These actions are a clear signal. While many risks remain hard to control, CEOs are doubling down where they can make a difference.
"In CEE, geopolitical tensions are increasingly spilling over into both IT and operational technology environments. Cybersecurity has now become more than a protective measure. It’s a strategic enabler of competitive advantage, business resilience, operational safety, and value creation. Companies in our region must embed security deeply across their operations and innovation efforts. Building a proactive, enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategy not only safeguards continuity but also helps unlock the full potential of AI and digital transformation."
Peter Durojaiye, Partner, Cybersecurity & Privacy Leader, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
Reinventing through new growth strategies
Moving outside your industry box
Technology, geopolitics, and climate change are reshaping how value is created. Companies that move fast are already finding new ways to grow. This “value in motion” is real, and in CEE, many CEOs are stepping up and looking outside of their traditional sectors for new sources of growth.
49% of CEOs in CEE report that they’ve started competing in new sectors over the last five years—higher than the 42% global average. For those taking this step, 61% report that new sectors contribute between 10–50% of their revenue.
“Digital transformation is the most strategic accelerator for CEE companies to break out of traditional, asset-heavy sectors. It accelerates capability building and unlocks new, borderless business models and markets. The real constraints are mindset, skills, and investment discipline. With a data-driven culture and leadership committed to fund the change, CEE firms can harness AI and other emerging technologies to reinvent and capture growth beyond their core.”
Marek Novotný, Partner, App. Development & EmTech Leader, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
AI promise vs AI performance
AI is clearly on the agenda for CEOs in CEE. But many are still waiting for the benefits to kick in. 73% say AI has had little or no effect on revenue, compared with 65% globally.
In addition, 57% say costs have remained unchanged despite AI, compared to 49% globally. This suggests that many businesses in the region are still testing AI in isolated areas, rather than integrating it in ways that drive measurable impact.
"It’s been a while since AI first captured widespread attention, yet the hype shows no sign of abating. Companies that succeed in implementing AI have moved beyond hype to practical, structured approaches. It’s about choosing the right use cases, scaling pilots, and embedding AI across organisations. AI isn’t implementing a model or software. It requires behavioural change and time to reinvent working patterns. Practical steps for success include consistent change management, accessible tools, and delivering AI solutions. Most of all, the recipe for effective implementation is to use AI as much as possible."
Jakub Borowiec, Partner, Analytics & AI Leader, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
What about companies seeing real returns? Both in CEE and globally, 12% of CEOs say their organisations have achieved both cost savings and revenue gains from AI. They did this by putting strong foundations in place and applying AI more deeply to more business areas, including the company’s own products, services, and experiences.
Around a third of CEOs in CEE have faced stakeholder concerns—at least to a moderate extent—over AI safety and Responsible AI (36%), data use and privacy (36%), and transparency (30%) in the past 12 months.
And the cost is real. Globally, companies experiencing high levels of trust erosion delivered shareholder returns nine percentage points lower than those with fewer concerns.
For CEE companies adopting AI, this is a crucial moment. As AI adoption speeds up, so must the implementation of safeguards. Now is the time to embed trust into AI strategy through Responsible AI, strong data governance, and transparency in operations and communications. This will help mitigate risk and gain competitive advantage.
"CEOs in CEE recognise the importance of trust in AI. Many have valid concerns about safety, data privacy, and transparency. So, building that trust is essential—and entirely achievable. Organisations should prioritise three key areas: embedding Responsible AI governance to ensure fairness and control, strengthening data protection to tackle security challenges, and being transparent and openly sharing how AI decisions are made. By demonstrating AI that’s safe, fair, and explainable, companies can stand out in our region. They can also inspire confidence among stakeholders eager to support responsible innovation."
Anda Rojanschi, Partner, Risk & Regulatory Leader, PwC Central and Eastern Europe
High innovation ambitions and lagging executions
41% of CEOs in CEE say innovation is central to their strategy. But when we look at what actually drives innovation—tolerating risk, stopping underperforming R&D, and setting up dedicated innovation hubs—fewer than one in five are doing it consistently.
However, the potential is undeniable. CEE companies generate a median share of 20% of total sales from products or services launched in the past three years. That’s well above the global median of 12%.
“In CEE, many businesses have historically relied on innovation developed in Western markets. While CEOs in CEE see the need to innovate for future growth, skills shortages, and internal infrastructure often make long-term investment and risk-taking difficult. It’s often easier to focus on short-term priorities and proven approaches. To bridge this gap, companies need to rethink their strategies by adopting strong governance, attracting diverse talent, and embracing agile operating models to turn innovation ambitions into real business results. That said, the vibrant tech-driven startup scene in Lithuania and elsewhere in the region, is built on innovation and is showing what’s possible.”
Nerijus Nedzinskas, Country Managing Partner, PwC Lithuania
CEOs in CEE have shown remarkable resilience in managing short-term challenges. They’re also confident in near-term revenue. And their companies are effectively navigating geopolitical, macroeconomic, and cyber risks. That said, the pressure to focus on ‘what’s urgent’ can overshadow the need for critical investments in technology and innovation. It’s the strategic, structural, and long-term decisions they make now that’ll define their organisations’ reinvention and growth.
About the survey
We surveyed 4,554 CEOs in 95 countries and territories beginning 30 September and ending on 10 November 2025, including 240 CEOs from Central and Eastern Europe. The global and regional figures in this report are weighted proportionally to individual nominal country GDP, so CEOs’ views are broadly representative across all major regions. The industry and country-level figures are based on unweighted data from the full sample of 4,554 CEOs. All quantitative interviews were conducted on a confidential basis.
